This Johnny Football didn't need football

Johnny Manziel could learn something from former Alabama star John Croyle

August 24, 2013|Mike Bianchi, SPORTS COMMENTARY

Just so you know, this story is not about Johnny Manziel.

It's about another John who sacrificed his chance to be Johnny Football.

He wanted something more important than the money, the fame, the women and the trips to Cabo.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel could learn something from former Alabama All-American John Croyle, who has an inspiring new book out titled, "The Two-Minute Drill To Manhood: A Proven Game Plan for Raising Sons."

If anybody should know how to raise boys, it's Croyle, who's raised about 1,800 of 'em during the last 40 years. He was once an All-American defensive end during Bear Bryant's national championship-winning heyday in the 1970s. He could have gone to the NFL like many of his college teammates. With his good looks and charismatic personality, he could have gone to New York or L.A. and been like another Alabama All-American — Broadway Joe Namath.

You know what he did instead? He turned it all down to start the Big Oak Ranch for Boys — a home for abused children in the piney woods of Northeast Alabama. No money. No fame. No TV cameras. Just a mission from God.

"I still don't have any money," Croyle says now, "but I'm the richest man I know. I've got several college teammates who have Super Bowl rings, but they don't have anything else. I don't have a Super Bowl ring, but I found out early in life what I was put here to do, and that's richness indeed."

Manziel and his apologists always rationalize his bad decisions by saying pointing out that he's "just a 20-year-old college kid." Well, Croyle was just a 19-year-old college kid when he made perhaps the most mature, moral decision any football player has ever made. He was working a summer job at boys ranch in Mississippi when he came across a kid whose mother was a prostitute in New Orleans.

"This boy was working in the streets with his mom," remembers Croyle, the father of former Alabama and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Brody Croyle. "He was handling all the money and he was the timekeeper, too."

Croyle converted the boy to Christianity, taught him some biblical lessons, left for college and the following summer came back again to work at the same boys ranch. When he returned, the same boy had completely changed for the better and recited word-for-word Croyle's Christian message from the previous summer.

"I knew then I had a gift and why God put me on earth," Croyle said.

He told everybody, including his iconic coach Bear Bryant, of his plans to open his own boys ranch after he graduated from college. After his All-American senior season, he decided he'd go to the NFL and make enough money to start the boys ranch. A conversation with Coach Bryant changed his mind.

When Croyle made the decision to pass on the NFL draft, Bryant told the Gadsden (Ala.) Times: "When you start talking about John, you need first to consider things a lot deeper than size and talent. . . . He's quite a man."

Croyle started the Big Oak Boys Ranch in 1974 with a $5,000 donation from the Alabama Alumni Association, followed by a $15,000 donation from a Birmingham businessman. Still significantly lacking the funds needed, his Alabama teammate and the No. 4 overall pick in the draft — dominating offensive tackle John Hannah — pledged his $30,000 signing bonus to launch Croyle's dream.

Since then, Big Oak has grown to three branches, including a girls ranch. In all, John and his wife, Tee, have raised nearly 2,000 at-risk children. They've seen kids who have been abused and neglected in every conceivable way — and in some ways inconceivable. Big Oak has taken in kids who were victims of sexual predators like Jerry Sandusky, whom Croyle says will have to answer to the ultimate judge someday.

"None of us know everything that happened [with Sandusky,]" Croyle said, "but God does and he will deal with it justly."

A few years ago, Croyle told his story to Sports Illustrated and recalled one memorable Christmas at the ranch during which a young boy named Tommy made him realize that rescuing young lives is far more important than hoisting championship trophies.

"Tommy [was] 9, cute little guy, he got a bike for Christmas," Croyle explained. "Now, Christmas Eve I'm up until 2 a.m. putting bikes together; then Christmas morning the boys ride them over to show me. Tommy was walking his. I said, 'You better get on that and ride it before I do.' He didn't want to ride it. He said he'd never had a bike, and he didn't want to rub the 'new' off. . . . That was my Super Bowl."

As we head into the first week of college football season, we could use another John Croyle right about now.

He's given us a Johnny Football story that's worth cheering for.

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740 AM.